1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to e-commerce customer-support services, and particularly, to enhanced features for a web-based billing system tool enabling customers to pay their invoices relating to telecommunications products and services on-line.
2. Discussion of the Background
Currently, there is no telecommunications enterprise or vendor providing telecommunications services that provide a fully integrated communications offering on the Internet with comprehensive product and services information, including electronic billing analysis and interactive customer support. In the area of billing for telecommunications products and services, telecommunications service enterprises provide capabilities for “on-line” electronic funds transfer (EFT) or public switched telephone network (PSTN) dial-up credit card payment of their invoices.
Existing comprehensive world-wide-web/Internet-based invoicing and payment systems (hereinafter “e-Billing”) enables customers to easily receive and analyze their invoices, and, in addition, enable customers to pay their invoices, electronically via electronic funds transfer. This “e-Billing” system includes a comprehensive software and system infrastructure that provides a variety of tools for enabling customers of telecom companies to receive, analyze and pay their invoices by a variety of methods, via a single comprehensive interface.
It is becoming increasingly desirable for telecommunications enterprise customers to pay their invoices “on-line”, due to the ease of processing and cost reduction from the view point of the billing enterprise. However, many customers have been resistant to conduct any e-business transactions on-line and are unwilling to pay their invoices electronically, for a variety of reasons.
Thus, to promote on-line customer invoice payment, it would be highly desirable to employ an Early Payment Discount (“EPD”) mechanism enabling providing an incentive for customers to receive an early payment discount on invoice current charges for paying their invoice electronically through the E-Billing service within a designated number of days from receipt of their invoice.